


The Bunny - (Or how Carson and Alyssa met)

by writehard_whumpharder



Category: Original Work
Genre: Backstory, First Meeting, Magic, Unsteady, Whump, introduction, kind of, magical healing, young carson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writehard_whumpharder/pseuds/writehard_whumpharder
Summary: Alyssa shows up in some of the other stories from when Carson was a teen so this is sort of her introduction. On her first day of school after moving to a new town, she runs into a weird kid picking up some roadkill. Her first instinct is to be creeped out but Carson wasn't at all who she thought he would be.





	The Bunny - (Or how Carson and Alyssa met)

If you want to know what Alyssa looks like I'll post her picture on tumblr here <https://writehardwhumpharder.tumblr.com/>

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Carson pulled the small bag out of his backpack as he squatted by the side of the road, knowing full well that he looked like an absolute creep doing it. But he wasn't just hovering over roadkill at 8:02am, he was looking down at a dead baby bunny. Carson had stumbled upon it on his way to school and as much as he tried to ignore it, he just couldn't. So with a heavy sigh he grabbed his supplies and went to work.

His mom had given him clear orders to stop touching random dead things before the bacteria on it inevitably made him sick, which is why he now came prepared with gloves, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer, and a suture kit. The healing would still require direct contact but he could minimize the need to touch the bunny and clean his hands off after he was done. Glancing at his phone he knew he would be late for his first class.

"Okay, here goes nothing," he said as he grabbed the limp form with his gloved hands. His heart clenched at the sight of the poor animal but knowing that it would soon be recovered and hopping away again reassured him a little bit. The damage to the head was... extensive... and would require the most work but he could do it. After all, he didn't actually need to know how to reassemble a bunny's brain, the cells would do that on their own. 

"What the fuck are you doing?" 

Carson nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned his head to see the owner of the voice. It was a girl, someone he didn't recognize, probably a freshman.

"I was told that class started at 8:15, now is hardly the time for creepy roadside surgery. You know collecting roadkill is the first step towards becoming a serial killer." She said.

Carson blinked, thrown off by her bluntness. "I'm not collecting it."

"Then what are you doing with it?" She asked.

"Well, I was going to... um, resurrect it." He mumbled. The whole town already knew about him, no point trying to keep it a secret. "Its life force is waning with every passing second so if you'll excuse me, I have to get this done before I miss my window." Carson explained. With one look at the girl, he could tell that she didn't believe a word he was saying. She paused for a second, trying to decide whether or not she needed to run for her life. First day and she's already run into 'the weird kid'.

"So you're planning on bringing that chipmunk back to life then? Cool, good luck with that." She rolled her eyes.

"It's a bunny, not a chipmunk," he corrected. The smart thing to do would be to wait for her to leave then do his thing but the 15-year-old boy in him gave him the strong urge to show off. Girls like cute little animals right? Maybe she'd be impressed. "Are you going to class or are you gonna stay and watch? If you run now you'll probably make it to homeroom on time."

"Whatever. It's my first day. I'll just say I got lost," she shrugged.

"Okay, I need to focus so be quiet for a minute," Carson said. The girl nodded and got a little closer so she could look over his shoulder. He positioned the bunny in one hand so that its neck and limbs were more or less where they were supposed to be. Then he grabbed the "other stuff" that was left on the ground. Once everything was ready he stripped off his left glove and touched a part of the bunny's leg.

"Ewww."

"Shhh." Carson closed his eyes and made a mental map of the life energy in his hand. Slowly but surely he poured small amounts of his soul into the animal encouraging the smaller injuries to heal. Lastly, he used his magic to pull all the matter together. Blood ran backward up into the animal, muscle tissue joined other muscle tissue, brain cells reconnected, and lastly skin then fur came to fill in the gaps. The whole process was gruesome but kind of beautiful at the same time. It was like turning back a clock, undoing a mistake, it gave Carson an odd sense of peace. Usually reviving small animals was an easy task but this one required more of his energy than he'd anticipated with the amount of reconstruction it needed. He was committed now, so there was no turning back. He told himself it would be okay as long as he fixed it. So if he didn't fix it now, it wouldn't be okay. Once everything was healed he sent one more spark of soul energy into the bunny, a breath of life. Feeling a stirring in his hand Carson opened his eyes and smiled.

"There you go, go be with your family, and stay out of the road," he told it before setting it down and watching it jump into the bushes in the same direction he'd seen the mom go minutes before.

"Uhhh." The girl stammered. He'd almost forgotten she was there.

"Well, that's that. Now we're both late." Carson sighed as he threw the soiled gloves into a ziplock baggie and disinfected his hands. 

"But... that's impossible," she said.

"Yep, definitely impossible. You should probably forget what you saw here." With that he grabbed his bag and started to stand but he only made it halfway before he stumbled, having to throw a hasty hand forward to catch himself. Healing the bunny had taken its toll but it was nothing he couldn't handle. After he regained his balance he started walking towards the school again, ignoring the odd look the girl gave him. It was 8:13am now so a call home for being late again was almost guaranteed. Carson brushed some grass off his pant leg and picked up his pace to minimize the damage to his attendance.

"Wait!" The girl called out.

Carson stopped, a bit surprised. He was so used to everyone ignoring him that any active effort towards conversation felt alien to him. "What?"

"Are you really just gonna leave like that?"

"Yes. What else would I do?" He asked.

She paused, not sure what to say. Honestly, she was still at a loss for what she'd just witnessed. Maybe the bunny wasn't really dead in the first place... A part of her knew that that wasn't true but the lie, which was much easier to accept, started painting over the memory almost immediately.  "Nevermind," she sighed. "You're weird, you know that?"

"Just wait until we get to school, then you'll see," Carson responded. She was obviously dissatisfied with his cryptic responses but she didn't ask any more questions. They walked the rest of the way to the school in silence with Carson leading the way and her following a few feet behind. As they approached the front doors Carson realized this was his last chance to talk to her before she realized who he was and ignored him for the rest of time.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Alyssa."

"Freshman?"

"Yeah. And you?" 

"I'm Carson, and same." He pushed the doors open and entered his own personal hell. He loved learning but high school made even the most basic things torture. Not many people were left in the halls since the bell had already rung but the few people that did pass by stayed as far away from him as possible, staring at random points on the floor to avoid eye contact. 

Alyssa noticed a change in atmosphere the second they walked in. She'd never seen anything like it. A ten-foot radius formed around him automatically, isolating him in his own little bubble. It made her a little nervous, but also a bit sad. She couldn't imagine why people would stay so far away from him, he was weird sure, but nice too. Her brows scrunched up in confusion as she watched him walk away. Not a single person talked to him, not one dared to make eye contact. Alyssa wanted to keep watching but she had her own things to do that morning starting in the office. Carson sauntered away, feeling her eyes on his back. She would figure it out soon enough and start avoiding him too.


End file.
